Modeling Ruse Again Rears Its Ugly Head

Janice Turner of Hartford wanted to be a model. But at 5-foot-4, she suspected she was too short.

Her hopes were boosted a few weeks ago, when she heard a radio ad from an outfit called Manhattan Petite Models looking for models who were 5 feet to 5-foot-7.

"Afraid you're too short? Nonsense," the ad said. "Today's hottest models are ... petite. Petite is in, so begin now." The ad also suggests that petites can land parts in soap operas or in films.

The ad directed potential models to a meeting May 7 at the Farmington Marriott. Turner, 25, of Hartford, said several hundred women attended. They saw a video, heard a brief presentation and were asked to pay $20 each to have a photo taken.

That photo would be studied to see whether the women would be accepted as models by Manhattan Petite. Turner got a letter saying she'd been accepted. All she has to do is go to another session at the Marriott on June 6 or 7 and shell out an additional $295 for more photos for her portfolio.

Here we go again.

Will you parents please stick this on the refrigerator? Will you counselors put it on the bulletin board?

This ruse hits Hartford every two years. In 1990, it was Mystique Models. In 1988, it was Judith's Models. They promise young women the big bucks and bright lights of a modeling career. What they're doing is selling photographs.

Judith's Models was run by a woman named Judith DeLong. DeLong is back as the head of Manhattan Petite Models.

She claims petite models -- usually defined as under 5-foot-9 -- are today's hottest models. No way.

According to people at the two leading agencies in the state, there's as much demand for short models as there is for short basketball players.

"I can't tell you the last time I booked a petite -- wait, yes, I can. Two in the last year," said Robin Delaney of the Joanna Lawrence Agency of Westport.

"There was some work for petites a few years ago, but it slacked off. Advertising has taken a big hit in this economy. Work

for petites in Connecticut right now is pretty much nonexistent," Delaney said. A spokeswoman at the Esther Johnston Agency in South Norwalk said the firm, like the Lawrence agency, was taking no new petites.

There was a widely known New York agency, Petite Models, that specialized in shorter models. It's been closed for lack of business and changed to a conventional agency named Time Management Models. "We went to 5-9 and over. We kept four petites on for cosmetic work," a spokeswoman said.

Then there's the business about soap operas and films. To get a role, you have to be a trained actor.

"We only look for actors, and we rely very heavily on training and experience," Mary Lynn Henry, East Coast casting director for ABC, told me when I investigated DeLong four years ago.

Although DeLong gave the impression she had a major agency, she had a small agency. Four of her five largest clients were shoe companies that hired a few of her models each year for their seasonal shoe shows.

This time she declined to comment, saying, "Who gives a ... what you write?" before hanging up on me. The two-page letter of acceptance that Turner received, while mostly full of dream-feeding baloney, contains one sentence saying the agency can't guarantee jobs for models.

Modeling is an exceedingly tough business. If you're not tall, stunning and highly motivated, the next woman is. Of those hundreds of women who went to the meeting at the Marriott, it's probable that none will ever make a living as a model. Judith, however, will make a bundle.